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Monday, May 24, 2010

Fred Barnes has a good piece up from the Weekly Standard-- he was chatting with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush about his future and the future of the Republican Party. According to the article, Jeb isn't running for President in 2012, even though we've written that he'd be a good candidate for the job. Bush was especially elegant by embracing Rubio early on.

Bush was a particularly popular governor, leading the state through a recession and bad hurricanes, even when terrible management nearly destroyed part of Louisiana. He does have some very prescient advice on what the GOP should do in order to carry the midterm elections and beyond:

His advice to Republicans for the midterm elections: Pursue a bold, policy-oriented campaign. “I completely disagree with the idea that you rope-a-dope,” he says. “If we just are trying to be against the president’s efforts to redefine who we are as a nation, eventually . . . you can’t score many touchdowns playing defense the whole game.”

Bush seems to be right on the ball with this. Anti-Obama and anti-incumbent senitment will only carry the GOP so far. The Democrats tried this in 2004 with their anti-Bush approach-- and without giving a message of their own, they got whooped.

Bush also singled out Paul Ryan, one of the best leaders in the House today. He also predicted a tremendous Rubio win, with Crist finishing in third.

So keep your eyes on him-- Bush might try for a third in his family in the White House in 2016. He's only 57 at this point.